Abstract:

Classroom management is a critical competency area for all teachers because classroom management skills are directly related to pupil achievement. In the present study, the four-category (authoritarian, authoritative, laissez-faire, indifferent) classification of Kris (1997a) is used. Pupil control ideologies, conceptualized by Willover, Eidell and Hoy (1967), were developed to define teachers’ views about pupil control. Pupil control ideologies conceptualized as two poles ranging from custodial control ideology to humanistic control ideology. The purpose of the present study is to determine the correlation between primary school teachers’ views about pupil control ideologies and classroom management styles. The survey model study attempts to answer the research questions. 200 primary school teachers from Kütahya province are included in the sample of the research. The data is collected using “Classroom Management Profile Scale” and the “Pupil Control Ideology Scale”. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis were used in data analysis. According to the findings obtained from the study, primary school teachers mostly presented authoritarian classroom management style, which was respectively followed by authoritative classroom management style, laissez-faire classroom management style and indifferent classroom management style. The findings of the study show that primary school teachers are closer to custodial control ideology. A custodial control ideology has certain qualities such as strict control, enforcement of orders, one way downward communication, and distrust towards pupils, cruel punishments and taking undisciplined behavior as personal offences. There is a moderate, positive and significant correlation between the participants’ views about custodial control ideologies and authoritarian classroom management styles. It could be said from the findings of the study that the more the custodial control ideology of the participants occurs, the more the authoritative classroom management styles are observed.

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